Sri Lanka beat the Test champs after 17 years
SA’ADI THAWFEEQ Reporting from Pallekele

Sri Lanka fielders celebrate the fall of the last Australian
wicket on the fifth day of the first Test at Pallekele
International Stadium yesterday. (Pix by Rukmal Gamage) |

David Warner: Bowled |

Steven Smith: LBW |

Joe Burns: Bowled |
What a remarkable turnaround by Sri Lanka. Dismissed for 117 in the
first innings they found a way to come back and beat the number one Test
nation in the world Australia by 107 runs in the first Test to go one-up
in the three-match series at Pallekele International Stadium yesterday.
The win was only Sri Lanka’s second win against Australia in 27 Tests
and it inflicted on Steve Smith his first loss as Australia’s Test
captain in 12 Tests. Sri Lanka last won under the captaincy of Sanath
Jayasuriya when they beat Steve Waugh’s Australians by six wickets in
1999 and it was also in Kandy at Asgiriya.
Final wicket
Australia chasing 268 for victory were dismissed 15 minutes before
tea on the fifth and final day for 161 with left-arm spinner Rangana
Herath taking the final wicket to end with figures of 5 for 54 – the
24th time he has done that in his illustrious career. Herath ended with
a match bag of nine for 103 and received excellent support from debutant
spinner Lakshan Sandakan who finished with seven for 107. Smith top
scored with 55 off 125 balls with one four but otherwise no one made
more than 29 as the Lankan spinners dominated the Australian batting on
a tricky surface with only six of the 88.3 overs being bowled by fast
bowler Nuwan Pradeep.

Peter Nevill: Caught behind |

Nathan Lyon: LBW |
The Australians came well prepared to counter the spin hiring the
services of former Sri Lankan spin king Muthiah Muralitharan as a
consultant prior the start of the Test series. But there is nothing like
facing spinners in the middle as they found out for themselves.
Any chance Australia had of making a game of it was destroyed in the
first session of play which commenced one hour late due to rain which
was a concern when play began. There was only two results in the Test
provided there were no interruptions to bad weather and that was a win
for Sri Lanka or a win for Australia. As it turned out Australia lost
the plot when resuming at 83-3 they slumped to 141-7 by lunch in the 90
minutes play.
Herath ripped out three of them starting off with a brilliant return
catch to send back Adam Voges for 12 and following it up with the
wickets of Mitch Marsh (25) and Smith (55). Sandakan whose chinaman none
of the Australian batsmen were able to read added the wickets of
Mitchell Starc (0) and Nathan Lyon (8) either side of lunch as they slid
to 157-8. With Australia facing defeat Steve O’Keefe whose tour of Sri
Lanka ends with this Test because of a hamstring injury walked in and
with Phil Nevill put up a brave front defying the Lankan bowlers for 107
minutes and 98 balls during which period he made only one scoring stroke
a swept boundary off Sandakan.
Both of them dug in to frustrate whatever Sri Lanka threw at them
playing a defensive role that saw them add only four runs in partnership
for the ninth wicket off 178 balls. The pair was quite content to play
down maiden over after maiden and they did it for 28 consecutive overs
as the score stood stagnant at 161.With tea approaching and some dark
clouds also hovering around Australia were hoping to cling onto a draw.
But luck was not with them as the rain held and their defiance was ended
by another debutant Dhananjaya de Silva who had Nevill (9) finally
edging an off-break to wicket-keeper Dinesh Chandimal. With the
resistance broken it was not long before Sri Lanka grabbed the last
Australian wicket as Herath eventually got through the defence of
O’Keefe to bowl him leaving Josh Hazlewood unbeaten on nought.
Young team
The scenes of jubilation that followed was one of relief for Angelo
Mathews and his young team who had gone through a tough six months and
quite recently without a single win on the tour of England except
against associate member Ireland. The fact that 15 of the 40 wickets
that fell in the match were to leg before decisions tells how difficult
the pitch was for the batsmen. In that context man of the match Kusal
Mendis’ knock of 176 stands out like a beacon.
The second Test starts at Galle on August 4.
SCOREBOARD
Sri Lanka 1st innings 117 all out
(D de Silva 24, K Perera 20;
Josh Hazlewood 3-21, Nathan Lyon 3-12)
Australia 1st innings 203 all out
(A. Voges 47; Rangana Herath 4-49, Lakshan Sandakan 4-58
Sri Lanka 2nd innings 353 all out
(Kusal Mendis 176; Mitchell Starc 4-84)
Australia 2nd Innings (Overnight Australia 83 for three)
J. Burns b Sandakan 29
D. Warner b Herath 01
U. Khawaja lbw b D. Perera 18
S. Smith lbw b Herath 55
A. Voges c & b Herath 12
M. Marsh lbw b Herath 25
P. Nevill c Chandimal b De Silva 09
M. Starc c & b Sandakan 00
N. Lyon lbw b Sandakan 08
S. O’Keefe b Herath 04
J. Hazlewood not out 00
Extras: 00
Total: (all out in 88.3 overs) 161
Fall of wickets: 1-2 (Warner), 2-33 (Khawaja), 3-63 (Burns)
4-96 (Voges), 5-139 (Marsh), 6-140 (Smith)
7-141 (Starc), 8-157 (Lyon), 9-161 (Nevill)
10-161 (O’Keefe)
Bowling: Pradeep 6-3-16-0
Herath 33.3-16-54-5
D. Perera 13-3-30-1
Sandakan 25-8-49-3
De Silva 11-7-12-1 |